1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to personal care products, including hair and skin compositions, and more particularly, to a concentrate for use in such products, which provides advantageous performance characteristics for the user.
2. Description of the Prior Art
M. Rerek et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 6,368,607 described a product-structurant composition for personal care formulations, particularly skin care formulations, in the form of a cationic bilayer lamellar gel network, which had a strong affinity for human skin, so that the interaction between the skin and the lamellar gel provided excellent skin coverage, effective skin conditioning and long-lasting barrier enhancement.
The product-structurant composition disclosed by Rerek formed a bilayer lamellar gel network in an oil-in-water system; it included (a) a cationic swellant which was a fatty acid adduct of amidopropyldimethyl-2-hydroxyethyl ammonium halide, and (b) a gellant blend of low HLB emulsifiers having a resultant HLB of 1.5 to 4.5. Typically, the fatty acid in the adduct was stearic or palmitic acid, or mixtures thereof, and the gellant blend comprised fatty alcohols and esters and saturated fatty acids. Suitably, (a) was present in an amount of 0.5 to 5 wt. % of the composition, and (b) was the rest of the composition.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved concentrate which is particularly suitable for use in personal care products including hair and skin care compositions.
Another object of this invention is to provide a concentrate which includes, by weight, (a) 10% to 60%, preferably 25% to 35%, of a saturated fatty acid selected from stearic or palmitic acid, or mixtures thereof, in an adduct of an amidopropyldimethyl-2-hydroxyethyl ammonium halide, with substantially no free acid present, and (b) 40% to 90%, preferably 65% to 75%, of an alcohol, preferably a saturated fatty alcohol or alcohols.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a process for making this concentrate, particularly with substantially no free fatty acid, i.e., <1% free fatty acid, and <100 ppm, preferably <10 ppm, and most preferably <1 ppm, of residual 2-chloroethanol (ethylene chlorohydrin, ECH) reactant therein.